The Twelve Steps for Catholics ~part 5~

Movin' Up to Step Four

Before we move on to step four, let’s discuss something that usually comes up early in an alcoholic’s journey to sobriety. Remember you can plug in any problem or addiction you may have instead of alcohol.

With most alcoholics, you will find co-existing conditions. Most common are social anxiety disorders, which includes panic disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, and attention deficit disorder. Research has also shown that alcoholics may not be able to process alcohol in the way other people can.

It is not uncommon for someone new to the program to talk on and on at their first meetings about all the “reasons” they have a problem with alcohol. It’s akin to the penitent in the confessional telling the priest why he just had to commit some sin or another. Well, guess what? The priest doesn’t want to hear that nonsense anymore than we do. You are an alcoholic, first and foremost, because you drink too much and you are out of control. Period!

Because we don’t engage in “cross talk” at meetings, the more seasoned members just listen and pray silently that this person might try doing a bit of listening himself. If the new folks would quit talking and listen to our stories, eventually a light bulb might go off.

We are not being cold and unfeeling. We know that he/she must stop drinking in order for other conditions to be treated. A.A. is non-professional, but we recognize when someone is in need of medical help and we urge the person to avail himself or herself of other treatment. At one time or another, I suffered from almost each one of the above-mentioned co-existing conditions. We often drink, drug, eat, work, or even have a disordered attachment to our religion in an attempt to relieve the pain or discomfort associated with such disorders.

This is a program that requires “rigorous honesty” and as we move forward with step four, you will come to see how brutal this can be. It is usually at this step that a fallen-away Catholic will first feel the stirrings of a possible return to the Church of their childhood.

Step Four - "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves."

"Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord." (Lamentations 3:40)

Catch Up Sunday

This and That

Athanasius Contra Mundum over at 50 Days After has started a new blog called Idaho Catholic. Yours truly will be adding posts as well as Anita at V for Victory. I’d sure like to hear from some other Idaho bloggers who might like to contribute. Today’s post has to do with what your parish did to celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. You don't have to be from Idaho to comment and we're kinda lonely so stop by.

Take some time and visit Charlie over at Come, let us sing to the Lord. He describes his blog as “Musings from a teenage Catholic about the liturgy, the priesthood, and the Church in North Carolina.” This 17 year old has more wisdom than most adults.

Cannonball Catholic Blog Awards

Voting begins April 1st over at the Crescat for the Cannonball Catholic Blog Awards. Stop over and pick out whom you’ll be voting for. I’m nominated in just about every category ‘cause I nominated myself. I will stoop to any level to attain attention and adulation. Carolina is also available to play tambourine at your church. We already have a tambourine player, but thanks for the offer.

Shameless Plug

Not only does my husband act as my editor (I am comma challenged), but he is also one of the best guitar, banjo, and mandolin teachers every placed on this earth. He has private students, teaches at North Idaho College, and runs a grant program called New Horizons at Holy Names Music Academy in Spokane, WA.

His company, LeWalt Publishing has been a leader in the field of instruction since 1974. The marketing of music has changed tremendously in the 30 or so years we have been married. The days of watching TV while stuffing thousands of envelopes for mass mailings are long gone. I even remember how happy we were when the printing companies became equipped to actually fold the flyers cutting down on our workload. Now folks can order arrangements which can be emailed using a unique program called TablEdit.

His CD's, with samples to play are on his music page so be sure to take a listen.

Technology has not caught up with the appearance of his website, however. We need the brilliance of Vincenzo to design a new front page for Harold – please!

Twelve Steps for Catholics

1. part 1


2. part 2


3. part 3


4. part 4 -


5. part 5 - coming soon

I laugh out loud everytime I look at the picture of the cats on part 4. That cat on the left is a perfect picture of this Italian drunk trying to control everything and everyone.

Adopt a Bowl Person

It’s never too late to adopt a bowl person. Just received a new batch of funeral cards from eBay, so my bowl is bursting with folks to pray for. Remember, these folks will pray for you, too. Just email me and let me know you’re interested in adopting a bowl person, and if you want the actual card, just include your address. Now that I’ve blown my cover by advertising for my husband, you can verify that I am not a crazy stalker chick. Well, ok Terry, crazy but not dangerous.

If you have sent me your address and have not received your card, please email me and let me know. I had a huge mailing day and it is possible some may have not been mailed out.

Father Longendecker tried to escape to Wordpress, which in my mind is like swimming backwards over the Tiber. What was he thinking? Not to worry. He came back with his head hanging low. He does have a fabulous new header that Mac over at Mulier Fortis thinks is a rather pukey green. Go over and cast your vote for the color. I think it looks pretty nice.

Update: I knew it - I just knew it! The last sentence was poorly worded and I should have changed it before posting. Mac doesn't like the pukey green background color. She's A-ok with the header. I wouldn't paint my bedroom that color, Mac, but I do think the background is easy on the eyes.

The Twelve Steps for Catholics ~part 4~

Each person’s journey to sobriety is different. After entering the program of Alcoholic’s Anonymous, I never really wanted another drink. My biggest worry was how to occupy myself while the barbeque was pre-heating. I didn’t suffer the “white-knuckle” syndrome so many of us face. And what’s worse, I never even knew it existed. I thought my experience was the litmus test for all drunks. I was still so wrapped up in myself that I looked with wonder at those that struggled. I was firmly planted on the pink cloud of sobriety and figured those that struggled were weak-willed. Now, how drunk was that thinking?

After about three or four years, I began to wonder why some people struggle with the physical desire for alcohol and others, like myself, just breeze right through. My only conclusion was that on that morning almost 18 years ago, I so completely “gave up” and surrendered myself to God, that a miracle of physical healing took place. This did not heal my mind or my heart. With the help of God, I’m still working out my salvation.

page 40 Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

…our friend’s life is still unmanageable even though he is sober, that after all, only a bare start on A.A.’s program has been made. More sobriety brought about by the admission of alcoholism and by attendance at a few meetings is very good indeed, but is bound to be a far cry from permanent sobriety and a contented, useful life.

...for it is God Who works in you to will and act according to His good purpose.. (Phil. 2:13)

A New Award

The awards are coming fast and furious, which is a very good thing. Since I am a weak and willful person with a tendency to whine, awards remind me that you like me, you really like me.

Jackie over at Mother’s Pride has a passel of brilliant daughters. The Fixer has conjured up a new award and, well, I got one.

Looks like today is going to be a great day. Thanks, Fixer!

Twelve Steps for Catholics

1. part one
2. part two
3. part three

Page 37, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Therefore, we who are alcoholics can consider ourselves fortunate indeed. Each of us has had his own near-fatal encounter with the juggernaut of self-will, and has suffered enough under its weight to be willing to look for something better. So it is by circumstance rather than by any virtue that we have been driven to A.A., have admitted defeat, have acquired the rudiments of faith, and now want to make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to a Higher Power.

"... my grace is sufficient for you, for my POWER is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9)

The Twelve Steps for Catholics ~part 3~

Steps Two & Three

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Steps two and three are a natural progression, once we understand we are nothing without God. When we come to believe that a Power greater than ourselves, which for Catholics is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, can restore us to sanity, we have the beginning of faith. We believe, even though we can’t put our finger on exactly how or when this is going to happen.

Step three is usually where we start to run into problems. We have to make a decision for surrender, which for most of us is alien to our nature. We want to be in control. I have seen people whose lives were a complete shambles balk at conforming to the will of God. If you think this thinking is the province of drunks, just take a quick scan over your day and think about all the times you thought or acted as if your intelligence backed by willpower could control the outcome of a situation.

In the A.A. program, step three leaves the door open for those folks who have never had God in their lives. I have even witnessed atheists (if their really is such a thing), assign the roll of “Higher Power” to the AA group. I used to get rather annoyed at that sort of thing, but have come to understand that each person is on a journey. My only job was to plan and pack for my own trip, not theirs.

To quote from Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions: “All of the Twelve Steps require sustained and personal exertion to conform to their principles and so, we trust, to God’s will. It is when we try to make our will conform to God’s will that we begin to use it rightly. To all of us, this was a most wonderful revelation. Our whole trouble had been the mis-use of willpower. We had tried to bombard our problems with it instead of attempting to bring it into agreement with God’s intention for us. To make this increasingly possible is the purpose of A.A.’s 12 Steps and 12 Traditions.”

One Day Left to Nominate

Get yourself over to The Crescat and nominate your favorite blot. I'm nominated in almost every category 'cause I nominated myself. Well, why not?? I need appreciation and adulation. It's in my DNA.

Categories:

BEST "MORE CATHOLIC THAN THE POPE" BLOG
BEST CHARISMATIC CATHOLIC BLOG
BEST BLOG BY A HERETIC
BEST ARMCHAIR THEOLOGIAN BLOG
BEST BLOG BY A CATHOLIC CRANK
SORRIEST EXCUSE FOR A CATHOLIC BLOG
BEST UNDER APPRECIATED CATHOLIC BLOG
BEST "VISUAL TREAT" BLOG
BEST "SPIRITUAL TREAT" BLOG
BEST HIFREAKINLARIOUS BLOG
BEST BAT SHIT CRAZY BLOG
BEST CHURCH MILITANT BLOG
BEST LIBERAL NEO-TRAD CATHOLIC BLOG
SNARKIEST CATHOLIC BLOG
BEST POTPOURRI OF POPERY

Voting will start on April 1st

The Twelve Steps for Catholics ~part 2~

Easy Does It

I am an alcoholic, an adult child of an alcoholic, married to an alcoholic, and have ingested more than my fair share of legal and illegal substances. I consider myself to be the luckiest person in the world. I get to go to any meeting I want.

It appears we have some folks in a huge hurry. Whoopee! Let’s just whiz through these steps and things will be much better. Not so fast, now. Remember this is not a one-time event – this is a conversion experience and it will continue the rest of your life. I toyed with the idea of replacing the word alcohol with some generic term but decided to leave that part up to you. Consider it “active participation” without the Kumbaya and tambourines.

When I first went to AA, I was determined to be the best “sober” person I could possibly be. After all, I was a darn good drunk and I wanted to continue being the best at what ever I did. I obsessively studied my Big Book, which is what we call our publication; “Alcoholics Anonymous.” My copy of “Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions” quickly became dog-eared. I studied everything I could possibly lay my hands on until I was an expert in the field of recovery. What great drunken thinking that turned out to be. About year three it hit me – I’m supposed to live the 12 steps - not just work them.

Let’s take a look at the entire 12 Step program. Just like the Ten Commandments, there is a sensible order to the steps. The first three have to do with our relationship with God. The first step is the most important, and all the others flow from that instant of recognition of our helplessness without God in our lives. Without God we are nothing. It is He who willed us into existence and who sustains us. It is this step of surrender that will open the doors to the greatest freedom you have ever experienced.

Now please don’t confuse surrender to God, the love of Christ Jesus, and the workings of the Holy Spirit, with lack of free will. Nobody gets to sit back in their recliner and say, “ Well, this is just the way I am.” Or even worse, “This is the way God made me.” Pretty tacky to blame your Creator for your problems.

Steps 4 through 9 are the action steps of this program. These are the steps that give us the practical actions we need to take on our spiritual journey. And finally, steps 10 through 12 are the maintenance steps. Ignoring these last steps will place your spiritual condition at great risk.

Those of you familiar with Ignatian spirituality will see the parallels between these two systems. Any Catholic should be able to spot Examination of Conscience and the Sacrament of Reconciliation reflected in steps 4 and 5.

If you are someone who is dealing with the addiction problems of a loved one, I do have a small bit of information for you. This program is about you - not about your “fixing” someone else. Only they are capable of fixing themselves. It would be like going to confession and telling the priest everything your spouse did wrong. Priests just love that!

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs

Picture: Dr. Bob's home in Akron, Ohio considered to be the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous. There are twelve steps leading up to the front door.

The 12 Steps for Catholics ~part 1~

A Journey Begins with One Step

Hello, my name is Adrienne, and I am an alcoholic.

Before we get into the heart of the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, I must tell my story because in the end that is all I really have to offer you.

I come from a family of alcoholics as so many of us do. Alcoholism is a family disease and where you find one, you will usually find many. My Mom was an alcoholic who really only drank in an out of control fashion for a few years. When I was about 9 years old, by the grace of God and the working of the Holy Spirit, my Mom was led to a rather new group called “Alcoholics Anonymous”. She took her sobriety seriously, and for years she was on jail duty, receiving calls at all hours of the night to come to the jail and talk to someone in the drunk tank.

My Father was probably what we in AA call a “dry drunk” - someone who exhibits the character defects usually associated with an alcoholic, but without the outward manifestation of excessive drinking. Since it is against our tradition to breach someone’s anonymity without permission, it is sufficient to say that my family harbored more drunks than sober folks.

I was raised not only with a fine Catholic education through the 12th grade, but also with the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. As I tell my fellow drunks, “knowledge is not always protection against alcohol.” In the book, “Alcoholics Anonymous,” it says, “Remember that we deal with alcohol, cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power. That One is God. May you find Him now!”

Sparing the readership all the gory details, this is my story. I had my first drink around the age of 15. There is no doubt that I did not relate to alcohol as my friends did, but that was something I would not learn until 30 years later. I continued to drink through college because that’s just what we all did. We worked hard, studied hard, and partied hard.

After college, I went on to many different professions – all of which were chock full of party-type people. Without being aware I was doing so, I surrounded myself with people who made it possible to drink without being conspicuous. There were also periods of time, sometimes years, when I didn’t drink very much at all. But like all alcoholics, I had one goal and that was to get drunk. Reaching the goal sometimes required a few months or even a few years, but sooner or later that’s what was waiting at the end of the road.

I met my husband in my early 30’s, and during the first 5 years of our marriage, we cared for my Mom who was dying of cancer. During that time our drinking started to escalate ever so slightly. My Mom, who had always been my 12th Step rock, died when I was 36 and the drinking cranked up at an alarming rate.

Too often, a non-alcoholic visualizes alcoholics as those folks lying about on the streets or sleeping at a shelter. For some, that is indeed the reality of their disease. For the majority, it is not. Most of us are your neighbors, co-workers, and friends. We don’t miss work or get arrested. Women can be particularly good at hiding this affliction.

By the time I was 44, I had a suspicion there might be a problem. I started to do all the things we drunks do to find a way to keep drinking. I switched brands of gin and set limits on when I could have my first drink each day. I even decided that maybe I should only be having one martini every day. The fact that my glass was the size of an industrial mop pail didn’t ring any bells. How could I possibly have a problem since I was only having one drink?

My husband had a very high profile student that had flown in for a week of intense guitar lessons. Since the student was spending so much money, I decided that at least one nice home- cooked meal was in order. I was home alone preparing ribs in the pressure cooker and having my “one” drink. The next thing I remember was waking up the next morning. I had no recollection of cooking those ribs, and had no clue if I had cleaned up the kitchen or even how I had managed to get myself to bed.

I knew at that very moment that I had a serious problem and I needed help. When I got to work my first call was to the AA main office to find a meeting. The next day, July 21, 1990, I attended my first AA meeting and have never had another drink since.

Was I sober? Absolutely not! I stopped drinking in order to get sober. Through the grace of God, the Catholic Church, and the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, I embarked on a journey of conversion and have remained alcohol-free one day at a time. Was my drinking accompanied by the ugliness and desperation that goes with all out of control drinking? You bet! But those details will remain between God, my confessor, and myself.

All journeys start with a first step and our first step is:

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol…that our lives had become unmanageable.

Romans 7:18

"I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out."

Maybe alcohol is not your problem. Maybe it is food, sex, a deficiency in charity or hope, or any of the myriad things that destroys our spiritual life. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that we can do nothing without God.

Disclaimer: I can’t make decisions for others or tell anyone what they must do to improve their life (other than not to drink.) I can only tell my story and hope someone will receive some benefit. If you are one of those people who harbor antipathy towards the organization of Alcoholics Anonymous please feel free to not visit.

Oreo Cookie Church

Once again, I want to wish all my blogger friends a blessed Easter. May the rest of the Easter season be as fruitful for you as, I hope, the preceding weeks have been.

Nadine worked hard during Holy Week getting caught up on her correspondence. The season is a bit easier for her, now that she has twelve thousand of her first cousins and seven thousand second cousins trained in the finer nuances of Easter deliveries.

I also want to thank all those wonderful folks who voted for me in The Catholic Blog Awards. Tony (Soprano) was only able to garner enough votes in the pews to put me in sixth place for Best New Catholic Blog, but considering the competition, I am very honored.

Carolina Cannonball at The Crescat is running another important Catholic Blog Competition. I nominated myself in all categories because I crave attention and adulation. My motto has always been, “Bad attention is better than no attention at all.” I will be nominating others in various categories and you may want to stop over and nominate your “favorite.” Please note this is not “sour grapes”, but more in the spirit of poking fun at ourselves.

And the good Lord knows, at least I think He does, that healthy humor is good for the soul. Over the past few weeks, I have been scandalized by some of the comments showing up at my favorite blogs. The vitriolic level and personal attacks have reached a level that can only be described as disgusting. And as usual, it is coming from the opposite sides of the same coin. On the one side, we have the ultra-conservative folks, and on the other the ultra-liberal. Jeffrey, at Roving Medievalist, posted a link to a very good article on this subject, which you can read HERE.

In the middle of this battle are the majority of Catholics, average folks who go to church on Sunday and for the most part, have no idea of what this ugly storm is all about. My husband so perfectly described it this morning as a church that has become an Oreo. Each of the cookie halves represent the two extreme factions, and the white frosting in the middle represent “everyday Catholics” - those who pay the light bill by donating the majority of the money scooped up every Sunday by the ushers. Without the “white stuff”, the two halves will not hold together.

There can be no denying the presence of problems in some parishes, most notably in the liturgy, of which music is an integral part. However, slinging insults at one another is not going to solve anything or bring about any meaningful change. Prayer, gentleness, and humor can work wonders. We need not look any further then Jesus for an example of how we should be behaving.

Coming Soon

I will be starting my series on the Twelve Steps for Catholics tomorrow. I will be celebrating my 18 birthday in AA this coming July, but like all alcoholics, I really only have “one day at a time.” People I consider to be way smarter and better writers have addressed this subject, but I also believe, “If only the most gifted bird sang, the forest would be a quiet place.” Therefore, I will be adding my “chirps” to the forest.

He is Risen

Lord, I am not worthy

Holy Week

Substitute


This is Nadine and she fills in for me during Holy Week. She will forward all comments or emails to me and I will , no doubt, be lurking about a wee bit.

May all my blogger friends have a fruitful Holy Week.

Passion Sunday

Every year in Holy Week the curtain rises once again on the great scene in which the definitive drama is decided, not only for one generation, but for all humanity and for each one.

Holy Father John Paul II

24 March, 2002

Artist Octavio Ocampo was born in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico on February 28, 1943. He was educated at the Fine Art Institute, Mexico City and the San Francisco Art Institute, graduating in 1974. He has been exhibiting since 1972
He works primarily in the metamorphic style - using a technique of superimposing and juxtaposing realistic and figurative details within the images that he creates.Ocampo now works and resides in Tepoztlan, north of Mexico City, it is considered to be one of the most magical places on earth.

Easter Greetings Bring Joy

I’m going to suggest doing something that for most of us may seem quite radical. While there is still time, run out and buy a bunch of Easter cards, write a personal note inside, put a stamp on the envelope and actually mail it to someone.

You will need a pen. That’s the stick-like thing with a point on the end. When you drag it across a piece of paper, it makes a mark. You will also need stamps (the little square things that go on the upper corner of envelopes), which can be purchased at most grocery stores.

In this age of electronics, the art of letter writing is almost forgotten. But nothing can be compared to the joy and pleasure of finding a real letter or card in your mailbox. Take the time to go through your address book and make a list of all the people who would enjoy receiving a card, and bless them with a wonderful surprise this Easter.

I’m headed off to the Dollar Store to replenish my stash of cards and tomorrow after Mass I will make some tea, hunker down at the dining room table and make out my cards. Some will have a separate letter folded up inside and some, like for people I see often, will just have a note telling them how much they are appreciated.

If you are like so many people today who don’t often receive handwritten notes or letters, send me your address and I will send you a card with a personal note.

Thanks to Main Street Pens for the picture of the beautiful pen. Ron Zorn and his beautiful wife Robyn did some work on my Mom’s old Sheaffer fountain pen. They have some lovely pens for sale (I have my eye on another Sheaffer), if you like the idea of having a quality fountain pen. For inspiration, you can’t do any better than Alexandra Stoddard’s book; Gift of a Letter: Giving the Gift of Ourselves-- Add Richness and Grace to Your Life Through the Art of Letter Writing.

Don’t forget to vote for me (please, please, please) in the Catholic Blog Awards – please!

Voting Closes in Two Days

Stop by the Catholic Blog Awards and vote for Adrienne’s Catholic Corner. I am nominated in two categories. Voting closes on Monday, but with time differences I would suggest you vote now.

The Bowl People

I love holy cards, and it saddens me to know there are young people out there who do not know what they are. When a Catholic died back in prehistoric days, everyone gathered at the funeral home to say a rosary the night before the funeral Mass. As a way of remembering to pray for them, you were given a holy card with a beautiful religious picture on one side, and a prayer on the back. Usually above the prayer was the person’s name and dates of their birth and death. We kept these cards in our missals and prayed often for them.

Newly ordained priests also gave out holy cards, and cards could be purchased with blank backs, or with just a prayer. I know that new holy cards are available at Catholic bookstores, but often at funerals you will see some awful computer generated “program” for the funeral service. Just a poor folded up piece of paper begging to be thrown away.

Due to distance, my brother handled most of the arrangements for our Dad’s funeral. Even though I was consulted by phone over what he perceived as important, such as the number of limousines (very important for an Italian male), it never occurred to me to ask about holy cards. As a result, my Dad was laid to rest with an ugly, computer-generated program, complete with some New Age poem. He did, however, have three limousines so it balanced out.

A number of years ago, holy cards began showing up on ebay and I started buying them – usually in fairly large batches or “lots.” When the first lot arrived, I noticed some of them were actually vintage cards from a long forgotten funeral, or from an ordination that took place 60 or 70 years ago.

Adopt a Bowl Person

I knew most of these folks had no one left to pray for them, so I placed the cards in a pretty bowl on my prayer table and I pray for them. I will be purchasing more in the near future, so if you would like to adopt one of my bowl people, just email me your address and I will pick out the perfect person for you to adopt. Please note: your information will be private and not given or sold unless I am offered a really, really huge sum of money in which case I will split it with you.

email address: adrienne at icehouse dot net

Special Award from The Fixer

Not only is Jackie over at Mother’s Pride one of the funniest writers I have ever run across, she also has a passel of brilliant daughters. Rumor has it that The Fixer dismantles the toaster, TV and the car just so she can reassemble them like other folks play with Rubik cubes.

Well, bless her little heart for using all this brilliance to create an award. She kindly included me mainly because her Mum explained my propensity to whine, cry and otherwise act disgusting if I am passed over for an award.

Stop over and visit The Fixer, the Football Fanatic, The Singer, The Peacemaker, The Noise and, of course, The Mother of this Lot, Jackie. You will not be disappointed.

Under Construction

Some of my regular readers have emailed wondering if I was ok since I have been absent for nearly a week. I thank you for your concern and want to reassure you that things at chez Adrienne are just fine.

About a month before Christmas, we started to redecorate our bedroom. This was not a simple project, as it required taking down old wallpaper and replacing it with textured wallpaper to hide the drastically imperfect walls. Next would come the painting and rearrangement of furnishings and decorative accents.

My friend's illness prevented this project from going forward, leaving the bedroom in a state of true ugliness. Over the past week, we have managed to play catch up, and it will be done by Easter. Yesterday, we completed the wallpapering and have started to paint.

I believe in what Scripture teaches us through the Holy Catholic Church, so I have managed to not go completely crazy over the state of the bedroom. If we are to believe “all things work for good”, then somewhere in this mess there may be a message.

It occurred to me this morning that during Lent, we are trying to shed ourselves of some of the ugliness in our lives. By the end of Lent, we should have accomplished some “wallpapering and painting” of our souls. First though, we had to peel back and discard some of the old ugly stuff.

Maybe some of our “ugliness” is anger, impatience, or worry. We are angry when things don’t go the way we want them to go. We show impatience with the people in our lives we perceive as standing in our way. We worry needlessly about things we cannot change instead of changing the things we can. It reminds me of the commercial on TV where the voices proclaim, “I want it all, and I want it now!” This could well be the anthem for our time.

If you want to be open to the workings of the Holy Spirit in your life, you must rip anger and worry out of your life, just as we did with the old wallpaper. Left behind will be a wounded and scarred wall, but the Holy Spirit is waiting with a bucket of beautiful new paint. I bet He will even let you choose the color.

Adrienne's Catholic Corner





Nominated

1. Best New Catholic Blog
2. Best Written Blog

Vatican News.org Pope Benedict announced today that anyone voting for me would earn a plenary indulgence. Don’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity. Log into Catholic Blog Awards and vote today. Registration is required, but it just takes a moment.

I wish I could tell everyone that it's honor enough to just be nominated, but that would be a lie. For this Italian, winning is everything. You may vote for me in both categories, one category, or no category, but I wouldn't suggest that. Really, I wouldn't.

Please don't make me call my best friend Tony (Soprano) and roust Cousin Vinnie off the couch to get votes. Vinnie hates to disturbed and it makes him very cranky. Weigh this carefully; a plenary indulgence or a visit from Tony. Hmmmmm.........

Caution: Make sure you finish all your voting in one visit. You are only allowed one log in to vote.

Check out the poll on the left. If you would like me to do a series on the 12 Steps of Alcoholics for Everyone from a Catholic Perspective, vote yes. No means no, and "huh" means you have no clue of what I'm talking about.

Parable Party

Scott over at SoberNuggets and Mark at Dominican Idaho have tagged me for the same task. I told Scott in a moment of insanity that since I had been tagged twice, I would pick ten of my favorite parables instead of the required five. What was I thinking???

The Assignment:

First, list your five favorite parables from the New Testament.
Then, tag 5 new peeps to do this!
Thirdly, link back to this post for reference.

First, though, let me tell you a bit about these two wonderful bloggers. You may have guessed by the title of Scott’s blog that either he is a recovering alcoholic like yours truly, or a very serious person. If you guessed recovering alcoholic, you would be correct. We are both Catholic members of Alcoholic’s Anonymous, but choose to be very public about our addiction. For me, it's a way of doing what we in the program call “12th step work.”

Unless you have been living in a cave, you know that we drunks have a program called the Twelve Steps, and as my pastor said after reviewing the steps, “You know, those steps are very Catholic.” The 12th step says, Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.” My continued sobriety depends on my being available to those that still suffer. By not being anonymous I make myself more available. That is my choice and is in no way a reflection on those who choose anonymity. Visit Scott and witness how theTwelve Steps can transform a life.

Mark, at Dominican Idaho, is a lay-Dominican. Along with John Keenan, he has been instrumental in initiating the Blessed Margaret of Castello Chapter of the Lay Dominicans in Boise, Idaho. Mark’s conversion story is one of the most inspiring I have ever read. I have linked here to both versions, which are available on their Blessed Margaret site. Spend some time getting to know Mark, as it will enrich your life.

My favorite Parables (subject to change at any time and yes, Mark, there’s only 5.)

The Forgiving Father (Prodigal Son) Luke 15:11-32
The Seeds Matt. 13:3-23, Mark 4:3-20, Luke 8:4-15
The Straying Sheep (Divine Mercy) Matt.18:12-14, Luke 15:3-7
The Mustard Seed & the Leaven Matt. 13:31-35, Mark 4:30-32, Luke 13:18-21
The Good Shepherd John 10:1-21

Poll in Sidebar

I tossed about the idea of actually doing a series on the Twelve Steps for Everyone from a Catholic/Christian perspective. I know there are books available, but for us internet junkies (addicts??), it would be a way to access some of this information while we are worshipping in front of our favorite idol. On the left is a poll, so take a moment and vote.

Holy Spirit 101

I was quite advanced in age before I had a fairly firm grasp of the importance of the Holy Spirit. When I was confirmed, I certainly knew that the Holy Spirit was going to confer all sorts of wonderful gifts on me. I knew He was the third person of the Holy Trinity, consubstantial with the Father and the Son. And I knew He was worshipped and glorified because I said so every Sunday at Mass.

I never thought much about what the Spirit’s part was in my baptism. Since I was an infant at the time of baptism, I just grew up assuming all things were in order. Pretty soon, I came to see the work of the Spirit in the creation and Pentecost, and moved a bit beyond the idea that the Spirit looked like a dove or tongues of flame on the heads of the apostles, although those are valid and very fine images.

But what does the Holy Spirit do? Just as the Holy Spirit is the last person of the Trinity to be revealed, so it was also last to be understood by my mind. One day in what could only be called an epiphany, I knew what the Holy Spirit did. My faith and my knowledge of the Father and the Son were only possible because of the Holy Spirit. It was the Spirit that communicated these things to me.

The Holy Spirit is like the UPS deliveryman of heaven. God has a warehouse full of gifts for me, and He entrusted their delivery to the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who reveals the Son. Because of this, the missions of the Son and the Spirit are inseparable. We see Christ, but it is the Spirit who has revealed Him.

It is on that day we call Pentecost that the Holy Spirit is fully revealed to us. The Spirit prepares us just as he prepared Mary to be the Mother of God, and made it possible for John the Baptist, still in the womb of St. Elizabeth, to recognize Christ in Mary’s womb. When we pray, it is the Spirit who opens our hearts and minds. St. Paul tells us that we cannot even say, "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3).

It is the Spirit we encounter in the sacraments. Baptism makes us temples of the Holy Spirit, and in the Eucharist, we pray to the Father, "Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ." In Confirmation, the bishop anoints us with oil and says, "Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

If you are having a hard time in prayer or feeling discouraged, you must become “like a little child” and allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life. When you are in the state of grace, it is the Holy Spirit who lives in you. Let the Spirit fill you with the love of Christ.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.
Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.

And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray. O God, Who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord.

Additional reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church: I Believe in the Holy Spirit, EWTN – Holy Spirit

Ooooops!!!

It has been brought to my attention that apparently Adoro does not want to poke her eyes out with a plastic fork. Silly me thought she was waaaay too spiritual and holy to care about such things as Wonderful Woman of Web Awards or beautiful vases of flowers. I was wrong and I apologize. I have discovered that Adoro is just as shallow, grasping, and insecure as the rest of us.

In an effort to make amends, I have created the Most Spiritual Blog Award just for Adoro. This young lady has answers for questions we haven't even dreamed up yet. And, may God bless her little heart, she is embarking on founding a new chapter of Lay Dominicans. Stop by and offer your support and prayers to this special lady and wish her well on her new endeavor.

I know she will be wonderful.